Libya’s Gadhafi tells Palestinians to challenge Israel

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi called on Palestinians to mass on Israel’s borders until their demands are met.

"Fleets of boats should take Palestinians … and wait by the Palestinian shores until the problem is resolved," Gaddafi said in a speech Sunday night on state television, his first public remarks since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down. "This is a time of popular revolutions."

"This is not a declaration of war. This is a call for peace," he added, according to reports.

Israel has rejected a Palestinian right of return, saying that all but a symbolic number of Palestinian refugees should be absorbed in an independent Palestinian state, formed as part of the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty.

Gadhafi also called Arab states that maintain relations with Israel "cowardly regimes."